Hum Along
by tRAWRasaurusRex
Summary: Several years after the events that led to Voldemort's downfall, Draco gets kidnapped. They take him to a secret hideout, from whence he may never return... But little does he know, his mother cast olde magic to find his soulmate so that she can rescue him. What will happen when it's discovered that it is Muggle born Hermione Granger who must save him?
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first ever Harry Potter fanfic! I recently discovered HP fanfiction, and I'm going to take a crack at my own story. I've wanted to do NaNoWriMo for years, and I'm a bit late, but I am just going to see how much of it I can get done this month, then we'll have a big editing session and I'll finish the story up. :) I'd just like to get myself into writing, so the plan is to update every day, even if it is just a mini chapter. That means theres no beta and no editing, so it might get a bit dicey as it comes out of my brain to my fingers, haha. Please leave me a review if you spot anything egregious!

A few items of housekeeping: I don't own the characters, and please excuse my blatant American language. While I wish I was British, I am not. Lastly, reviews are the fuel of writers, so please let me know what you think!

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June 25, 1980

The best moment in the woman's life was right now, and all she wanted to do was let her eyes close and fall into a deep slumber. Instead, the healer placed the tiny bundle into her outstretched arms, and all of her tiredness melted away. She stared down at the already sleeping form of her newborn son and a lone tear escaped her eye. The wrinkled face was the most precious thing she had ever seen. The woman raised the tiny being to her lips and kissed his forehead, whispering "I'll keep you safe, forever."

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1995

Narcissa sat straight up in her king-sized canopy bed. She'd been in a deep sleep, but the feeling of one of the manor wards being tripped had her awake as a light in less than a second. She made no sound as she slid her slippers on her feet and grabbed her mahogany wand. She slipped on her silken robe just as the wandlights were visible under the door.

Rather than swinging the door wide and addressing the intruders immediately, she took a leaf out of Slytherin's book and slowly turned the golden doorknob, opening the door a mere sliver so that she could see the two figures that slunk silently past her room.

i Not Draco /i was the thought that kept racing through her mind as they turned down the Eastern corridor that led straight to his room, where he was currently sleeping. Narcissa felt the panic begin to flutter in her chest. She nearly cried out that they just i needed to take her instead! /i Narcissa clamped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from speaking out.

i I'm no good to him dead. /i

And Narcissa had witnessed so many deaths.

She had no doubts that she was dispensable. Her years under the Dark Lord's thumb had taught her that everyone was replaceable. Narcissa did not recognize the common, burlier figure of the two men, but a sliver of moonlight on the skinnier man showed her the snarling features of Rabastan Lestrange. Knowing the identity of one helped her to identify the other as his elder brother, Rodolphus.

The two men kept their loyalty to the Dark Lord, even years after his defeat. Narcissa, being family through her late sister's marriage to Rodolphus, had been through rigorous Ministry interrogations on the whereabouts of the two. She'd not known their whereabouts and had no doubts that after their sojourn into her home tonight, she'd not be able to find them again. Thus, they must not take her son, Draco. She loved him dearly, headstrong though he was. Due to her Ministry imposed punishment (house arrest! How dare they!) she only had him. Without her boy she would have nothing but a wimpy house elf for company! Lucius was in prison. Draco was in danger!

The two men apparently decided they were done with their subterfuge, as they flung the double doors to Draco's quarters open with a loud band. A muttered spell, a flash of red light, and she knew her son had been stunned in his sleep. They must have plans for him…

Narcissa raised her wand at their backs, but before she could do anything, she was hit with a curse from behind.

"Did you really think we would forget you, my beauty?"

Narcissa's blood ran cold as she heard the voice of the third man, who had waited for her to make her move. She was trapped in the full body bind as the three men levitated the sleeping body of her beautiful boy from the manor.

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Please review!

Note: As I plan to update every day, this story probably won't be getting much editing, so please feel free to let me know if there are any grievous mistakes! Thanks, and please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Mother's Love

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Narcissa lay on the ground, tears streaming down her face and into her hair. She was unable to move a muscle to wipe them due to the whole body bind. She silently willed the house elf to her side, inventing new curses for the creature that could not read her mind.

"Twippy is being scared, mistress." The elf said from somewhere above her head.

"Hmmmh hmmm!" Was all Narcissa could get to come from her mouth. _That was supposed to be 'help me'. Curse this full body bind_!

Tippy crept into Narcissa's field of vision, the timid elf twisting her tea towel in her spindly fingers nervously. Her mouth formed a small 'O' and she dropped the tea towel to snap her fingers loudly. Narcissa instantly felt her muscles sag from the magic hold. She stood quickly, brushing imaginary dust from the soft frilly robe.

"Let's to the library, Twippy. I require strong tea." The elf bowed before disappearing.

When Narcissa arrived in her favorite room, Twippy was standing next to the gilded tea tray.

'_She must be quite afraid, if she is being seen._'

The mark of a good house elf would have been to disappear before Narcissa arrived. Lucius would never have stood for it. But he was in prison. And Narcissa had never cared about such protocols when there was nobody around to see.

"You may stay as long as you are quiet." Narcissa didn't even look at the elf as she strode purposefully to the back of the library, hearing the elf's quick pattering steps on the carpet behind her. The lamps magically lit as she strode towards them, illuminating the charming library. The cherrywood shelves stood two stories high, and the room was comfortably furnished with chaise lounges and loveseats.

Narcissa quickly reached the back of the comfortable library. She found a new copy of "Magick Moste Evile" and rocked it back on its spine. The floor-to-ceiling glamor vanished, and the bookshelf's true contents were revealed to the two. They were suddenly looking at well-read copies of books that many bibliophiles would kill for. Reaching for one on the bottom shelf, titled Family Magic, Narcissa hesitated just a moment.

Her mind was racing, trying to find another way. But…_ just reading about it couldn't hurt, could it?_

She closed her eyes in resignation and snatched Family Magic up. Narcissa rifled through the tome and found the page she was looking for:

Motina's Mantra

NOT TO BE USED EXCEPT IN EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES

A mother can cast this spell after brewing a blood replenishing potion, with one important alteration. The mother must add her own blood after the third clockwise stir after adding the valerian root. The spell calls a soul bond into effect for the child.

What kind of instructions are those?! Narcissa knew the spell was to call help to Draco, but what kind of soul mate would it call? She was stuck on house arrest, and Lucius was in prison. Who else did Draco have? Then again, the book never said that he would know the person…

Narcissa's thoughts raced, as she carried the book to a nearby shelf. Behind her, the bookshelf rearranged itself back to its original contents.

She plucked from the shelf a book titled _Bonds and their __Mates_, before sitting on the chaise lounge closest to the fire. The unobtrusive Twippy magicked a roaring fire into the grate, and the tea tray appeared on the nearest end table. Narcissa settled in for a long read, opening the book.

Soul bonds are a magical tie between the souls of two people. It can refer to familial bonds (parent-child, sibling, etc.), friendship bonds, or mate bonds. Some bonds are stronger than others, allowing the members to feel the emotions or danger of one another. Weaker bonds merely instill a sense of duty between the souls. Familial bonds are generally of the weaker variety, as they are often formed from merely being in another magic user's home for many years. These bonds must be created through time, whereas a soul bond is latent in a person's soul until the feelings of the nature of the bond have been discovered. Bonds such as soul bonds can be revealed by a magical ceremony found in chapter eight: How to Invoke a Soul Bond. Muggles are immune to bonds as far as this writer can tell.

Narcissa knew all of this. She closed her eyes in a pensive moment. Her son's angelic face swam before her eyes and she had to blink away tears.

Draco was gone, taken by the worst people she could think of that were still alive. She had no way to leave the house as her magical house arrest had another 362 days left. She couldn't even contact anyone! The magical bind that they'd put on her core kept her from even using the Floo. Their eagle owl, Sebastian, had been sent to Azkaban earlier with her latest letter to Lucius. It wasn't expected back for a few days. Draco had been her go-between for the world. She needed him for that, but she needed him more as her son. Her boy that she had promised to protect the first time he had been placed into her arms. The happy little child with the platinum blonde hair that he liked to style after his father's. The nervous boy he'd been before starting school, scared to show anyone else his anxiety. The emerging teen, so eager to please. Then the tortured boy he'd been when the Dark Lord set him to his task. She had done then what she needed to keep him safe, and she would do it again this time.

_But what kind of soul bond would it call into effect?_ Draco's soulmate seemed most likely. _Who would she be? It couldn't be a he, could it? No Malfoy had ever been of that persuasion. What if she was a muggleborn? Or a Death Eater?_ Either would be reprehensible. If Narcissa invoked the bond prematurely, she would not be able to sever it… or could she? The woman flipped the slim volume to almost the end.

Chapter Nineteen: Severing a Soul Bond

Attempting to sever a soul bond of any type is heavily discouraged. The stronger the bond, the harder it is to break. Certain types of bonds, such as sibling bonds, can be broken. Familial bonds such as this may be terminated at great emotional cost to the individuals involved. It is nearly impossible to sever a romantic soul bond and should never be attempted. Every case that this author has heard of has ended in the immediate death of one of the mates, and a slow agonizing death for the partner.

_Well, that answers that_. She made her decision, and quickly. Who knew how much time had already elapsed, or how much time before the insane brothers tired of whatever game they were playing.

She had to potentially tie her son to some harlot for the rest of his life. If she did not, who knew how long the rest of his life would be?

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Well, sorry it's so late at night! It's nearly 2am here. I have been hard at work writing today, and have a lot written. The only problem is that it's not all in chronological order!

Review, review, review!


	3. Chapter 3

Housekeeping: I GOT MY FIRST REVIEWS! Thank you to absolutely-a-supernatural-fan and JasmineFlower! Sorry for the formatting issues in the first chapter, I hope they've been fixed in the newer chapters. I'm still learning the ropes of FF. It was also pointed out to me that it must be at least 1997 for this story! I had hoped for it to be a few years after their last year at Hogwarts, so we will go with 2001 from here on out. Thank you all for being so amazing!

On to the story!

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Narcissa had made up her mind. She summoned a quill, ink, and parchment. She made an ingredient list and told Twippy to have them chopped and ready for her, and to wake her in twenty minutes. Thank Salazar the Malfoys had always taught their elves to read. The Black elves had never known how, as her family had generally considered them stupid and unable to learn. The Malfoys were experts at getting the most from what they'd been given, and their elves were no different. Thus, Twippy's ancestors had been taught to read and they had passed the skills down to her and her brother.

Draco needed her to come through for him, but a quick glance at the time and she saw that she'd been researching for hours. The horizon was becoming visible, and the sun would be up in mere hours. _How long since Draco had been taken? Where was he, and what are the nasty Lestrange brothers doing to him?_ It was these sort of anxious thoughts that she drifted off to sleep with.

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Twippy woke Narcissa from her uneasy slumber at the appointed time, and Narcissa looked out the large windows to see that the sky was beginning to lighten to a languid blue. She shook herself and went to the North tower of the manor where the potions lab was located. She walked through the well-stocked storerooms located just below the lab without a second glance.

Arriving in the potions lab, she saw the workbench located right in the middle was set exactly as she had ordered, and Twippy was nowhere to be found. _Good elf_, Narcissa thought. On another day, she might have looked forward to the breakfast the elf was undoubtedly making. Narcissa surveyed the spread of ingredients appreciatively. They were laid out before the size 3 platinum cauldron in the order she would need them, chopped, minced, and diced in the correct sizes.

Narcissa got to work brewing her potion, following the book's alterations perfectly.

She was soon looking at the light pink bubbling potion and chanting the words over it that were needed.

"_Puer protegas me, misit ad eum parse animam eius._" Roughly, Protect my child, send unto him the piece to his soul.

She didn't know how long it would take until it worked, but she was going to do it as many times as it took.

Narcissa was there for a long time before she felt her magic draining and the potion looked strawberry pink. The potency must be strong, she thought.

A quick glance back at the book told her to drink the potion exactly two minutes after brewing. She cast a timing charm and waited the allotted time. When the unicorn tail inside her mahogany wand vibrated, she chugged it down like she had been in the desert for weeks and this was the first water she had seen. It tasted like Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, much too sweet for Narcissa's taste.

Narcissa drank the last drop and fell to the ground, completely limp. The goblet she had been drinking from rolled from her grasp across the floor. Her eyes lazily fluttered shut, but she did not sleep. No, suddenly she was seeing things from another person's eyes.

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Ginny had Floo called her and said that the baby was coming.

The girl didn't question how the heavily pregnant woman got down into the fireplace, or the hilarious story of Harry accidentally vanishing her overnight bag for St. Mungo's in his panic.

She merely met them at the hospital.

As she walked through the doors into the maternity wing, _something_ made her turn around.

Her eyes immediately went to Draco Malfoy, who had not been there a moment before, and was very out of place in the clean hospital.

Obviously, he had a cut on his right check and his normally immaculate hair was disheveled. His clothes were pajamas! But there was something even more to it.

The detail-oriented girl could see the panic in his eyes, and the way he was standing made it look like he was trying to keep the weight off his left leg. Their eyes didn't meet, and it was almost as though he couldn't even see her. She felt torn between her best friends who needed her, and this ex-classmate who also seemed to need her. Her brain kicked in at this moment.

This wasn't just some stranger who needed her bleeding heart to take over, this was MALFOY. Draco Malfoy, who wouldn't take her Muggleborn help anyway! She turned away from him to go to her friends who were possibly, at this moment welcoming their baby.

"Granger."

It was so quiet; he might not even have said anything.

She hesitated, keeping her back to him, and closing her eyes in annoyance. How dare he say her name after everything they'd been through!

"_Granger_!" He screamed out.

And the sound was so loud that she was startled awake.

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Narcissa felt herself come back to her own body as her consciousness separated itself from the girl's.

Draco looked much the same as he did when she had last seen him, only obviously beaten to a pulp.

But the girl...

_A muggleborn named Granger._

It could only be the fuzzy-haired twerp who followed Harry Potter around.

Because everyone knew who Hermione Granger was.

Even if she didn't, there was no way she could forget the cries of the half-starved girl who had been tortured – _carved into by her own sister!_ – in her drawing room.

Narcissa indulged in a bit of uncharacteristic cursing at this.

_Bloody fuck._

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Review, review, review!


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione woke up covered in a cold sweat. She rolled over in her bed and closed her eyes again. Her eyelids flipped open when she remembered what she had just dreamt. _Ginny was having the baby!_ Oh yeah, it was just a dream. But then her brows creased as she remembered the very strange finish to her dream. _Malfoy?_ Hermione snuggled into her blankets a bit more. She hadn't thought about him in years, and now she was dreaming about him? _My subconscious must be working overtime_, she thought. _But on what?_

As she got ready for work, Hermione thought back to the war.

After the battle of Hogwarts, all was in chaos. Luckily, Kingsley Shacklebolt took the helm at the Ministry, and everyone was in shock. They voted him interim Minister of Magic, (a role which he was later voted into permanently). Kingsley had quickly gathered his troops, directing people every which way. He had immediately met with Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione herself.

Directly, Harry had stood up, and with his traditional brevity, announced that he was done with sacrificing his life for others. He would advise on certain matters but would not be taking an active role with anything in the near future. Hermione had known it was coming, as he had been so selfless the entire war. He had nearly lost himself, and needed time to figure things out. His whole life had basically revolved around Voldemort, and now that the villain was gone, what did Harry have lft? Of course he had her, the Weasleys, and half of the wizarding world, but he just couldn't stand it.

Kingsley had not skipped a beat, and told him that was his prerogative, but asked him to stay for the rest of the meeting, and to come to him if he ever needed anything.

It was decided that a special task force of aurors would be created to flush out the remaining death eaters, headed by Ronald Weasley. It would be considered his Auror training, and Ron had seen a promising career stretch in front of him. He jumped at the chance.

A separate judicial force would be created to examine all the facts and press charges, and Hermione would complete that task along with a handpicked delegation of impartial people.

When she had volunteered for the task, she had also asked what had been decided about finishing her education.

Kingsley had told them that he hadn't presumed to interject himself into Hogwarts business, but that he had already met with Minerva McGonagall about it. He told them to expect an owl with more information, but that students could choose to repeat the last year of school, drop out, or they could take their exams and move forward a year. Hermione had immediately decided to take her exams while Harry and Ron both blew them off with their normal apathy.

The rest of the meeting was a blur, and after Hermione had directly begun to study for her N.E.W.T.s. She did well but wished for extra time on the essay portions.

A small graduation ceremony was planned as a morale booster for those who took their exams. In the end there were only eight of them graduating. Hermione, Lisa Turpin, Blaise Zabini, Ernie Macmillan, Padma Patil, Hannah Abbott, Terry Boot, and Draco Malfoy.

The graduates were invited to a ceremony in the Great Hall. No family was invited, as per normal Hogwarts rules. Hermione's parents would not have been invited even had they not been Obliviated, as they were muggles and thus could not even see the castle.

All the tables had been removed and the teachers looked proudly down at the graduates as they filed in alphabetically. A short ceremony was given, and the sorting hat was placed on the same stool as when they were sorted in their first year. One by one, each of them were given the option to put it on once more. Hermione took her turn after Terry Boot, but the hat didn't give her anything useful. She had hoped for affirmation on her career, or maybe a useful item like the time Harry had pulled the sword of Gryffindor from it.

Instead that hat told her "Do you know why I put you in Gryffindor? No? You will, and when you need direction, help will always be found at Hogwarts, if you only remember to ask." She had been angry. _Did she not need its direction now? It sounded like something Dumbledore would have spouted off when he was trying to be cryptic about something he could have just told Harry_

She had ripped it off, her face flushed. She had come back to her senses when it was Draco Malfoy's turn.

It was the first time she'd seen Malfoy since that battle, and he looked a little better than he had then. His cheeks were losing some of the unhealthy, sallow look of a man under stress, and put on a little weight. He had, however, lost a lot of the pompous aristocracy that he once had possessed. Malfoy stood quietly, as though he didn't want to be noticed. Hermione assumed that he and his family were going through a hard time as they were certainly under investigation about their activities as Death Eaters.

As he walked toward the hat, she saw his gait was no longer purposeful, but almost reticent. The tall blonde sat under the hat for nearly a full minute.

The ceremony quickly finished, and the teachers all shot a myriad rainbow of sparks into the enchanted ceiling. It was bittersweet leaving the castle, where she had learned so much about her new world and herself.

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Hermione shook herself mentally, looking at the clock. _She was going to be late for work_! Since there had not been any Death Eaters brought in for a long while, she had picked up a job as a filing clerk in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, learning the ropes so that she could make some reforms in the far off future.

She apparated to work and had a perfectly normal day, her strange dream forgotten.

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Okay guys! So now we've seen what happened after the battle of Hogwarts, and that was a lot of info to digest! We will be getting into the moving part of the story, and you'll get to see Draco next chapter!

Also, this is not a Ron bashing fic. I don't have any great love or hate for the sweet dunderhead, but he and Hermione do not go together in my brain, lol.

Lastly, there won't be an update tomorrow as I have a million things to do and no time to write. Please don't hate me! See you again on Thursday. ; )

Please let me know what you think. Love you all. XOXO


	5. Chapter 5

Draco woke up cold.

He'd _never_ woken up cold.

And it smelled of something nasty… Something burning. And sulfur? Ugh.

Twippy always kept the fires lit, and his down comforter was always freshly laundered. He crinkled up his nose but short of holding his nostrils closed, could do nothing about it.

**SMACK!**

Draco's face flew to the side as a hand slapped his face, and his eyes snapped open. The cold, damp rock walls made him think he was in a cave. He could hear a trickling sound, like water running down the walls.

"Stand up, you little wimp."

The raspy voice could only belong to his uncle Rodolphus, who was currently 'missing.' He was still wanted for crime he had committed during the Dark Lord's reign.

Damn this darkness, Draco thought as he couldn't decipher how the face looked after years on the run. Rodolphus might have been wearing his Death Eater mask, but Draco could still tell who he was by the way he carried himself and spoke. He felt a trickle on his face and raised his hand to feel where he had been slapped. Something had cut his face, perhaps a ring?

"Now, wimp!" and he was kicked in the side of his knee, the nerves radiating pain down to his foot and up his thigh.

Draco had a lot of practice with performing under duress during his brief tenure as a Death Eater, so he forced his arms under his chest and pushed himself up.

Apparently, this wasn't fast enough because he heard "_Crucio_!" before he was hit with a powerful Cruciatus curse. Bellatrix must have shared her special secret at the curse because the only stronger ones he had ever felt were from Aunt Bellatrix and the Dark Lord.

"Faster!"

_Would have been faster if he hadn't Crucioed my ass back to the ground_, thought Draco as he gritted his teeth and forced himself upright. Besides the lingering pain from the Cruciatus curse, his leg was having trouble holding him up.

Finally, he was upright. Draco squinted his eyes at his tormentor, wishing he had his wand.

The Dark Lord's defeat had done nothing positive for Rodolphus, and it was obvious, even through his Death Eater mask. He was missing an eye where a Conjunctivitis Curse had hit him in the final battle, and his patchy beard that showed underneath was a bit more salt than pepper. Losing his wife had put a depraved look to his pouchy good eye, but it was still nothing compared to the madness that had always been in his brother Rabastan's eyes.

"Nephew," Rodolphus began.

"Uncle. Pleasure to see you again." Draco tried to pull off his father's sneer.

"Sure it is, kid. Want to give me some answers?"

"I'd be a lot more obliging if I hadn't just woken up soggy. Where are we anyway?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon. Those answers?"

"Maybe if I knew what kind of answers you wanted…"

"You should know!" His face twisted into a contempt. "You should've come and found me, you flobberworm. This would've been _much_ easier."

"What?" Draco couldn't even keep up his façade anymore. _Why would he have been looking for his crazy fugitive uncle? Was he even his uncle anymore now that his aunt was gone?_

"_Crucio_!" As Draco writhed on the rocky ground again, he continued. "Don't pretend you have no brains! The Dark Lord knew you better than that! You were his chosen one."

Draco lay on the ground while his muscles twitched from the most recent attack. His mind was reeling from the pain and the information wasn't sinking in.

"You were groomed to be his champion from the beginning, and you threw that all away the first chance you got, you sniveling little shrivelfig! _Crucio_!"

Suddenly, a figure appeared behind Rodolphus. Draco's pained mind couldn't place the voice that radiated menace from behind the mask, but it was definitely familiar.

"Do not tire our guest out, Rodolphus. He will be very willing to help us soon, yes, he will. Feed him something before he passes out and let's go have a drink. I've found us some Ogden's."

As Draco tore into the plain bread and cheese that had been provided for him, the men walked around a bend in the cave, leaving him in darkness. Without knowing where he was, how many people were holding him captive, and without a wand, he didn't know how he could escape. He would just have to glean any information he could for a while._ It's not like anyone could come looking for me,_ he thought irritably. The damn ministry had seen to that. His poor mother, stuck home alone, his father, stuck in Azkaban, and himself, in this damn grotto. He felt pangs of despair, and he wondered if he would ever taste the warmth of firewhiskey again.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey all. It's been a couple of days and I apologize for that. Real life got in the way!

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_Hermione walked into the graduation ceremony and she wondered why she was here._

_Draco Malfoy sneered at her haughtily, but then his face changed._

_It morphed into the unsure face of the person who would not reveal her to Voldemort._

_His mother had begged him to reveal if they were the Golden Trio, and she could see in his eyes that he knew who they were. Yet he hadn't exposed them, and his unsure face had stayed in her subconscious all this time._

_While she was still analyzing, Malfoy's face contorted into a mask of pain, and in the middle of the Great Hall, he screamed in agony and fell to the floor, seizing in pain. He was obviously being tortured with a strong _Crucio.

_The room began to spin, and Hermione heard his screams echoing through her mind. His pain was so palpable that she screamed with him and blacked out._

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Hermione opened her eyes, wondering who was making such a commotion. Suddenly the yelling stopped, and she realized that the sounds had been coming from her own mouth, and she was crying profusely.

Her pillow was soaked with her tears, and her throat was sore from the raw emotion streaming out of it.

_What a nightmare._

Hermione jolted out of bed to look at her clock, adrenaline coursing through her as though she must have slept in late and missed work. It was only 6:23 in the morning, and she didn't have to be at the office until eight. _Early again, and it would be the third time this week_. Since she had begun to dream of Draco. _Since when had he become Draco, and not the ferret, Malfoy?_

She tried to shake the feeling of utter dread from her mind by stripping the bed clean, washing the sheets, and taking a shower.

She was still early to work, and she spent the whole day trying to figure out why her nightmares were no longer of being tortured in Malfoy Manor, but of Draco himself being tortured.

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Yes, it's short. Some longer ones coming soon. 😉


	7. Chapter 7

This one's for you, Ditte3. Thank you for always reviewing!

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Another nightmare about Draco thundered through Hermione's head as she lay in bed.

She rolled over miserably, rubbing her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well, having multiple nightmares a night for the past four nights.

She contemplated taking a dreamless sleeping draught, but two thoughts stopped her: Firstly, I'm having these dreams for a reason. They might be visions. Draco's injuries had been getting worse and were consistent, never changing much. But her logical mind immediately discounted that. Divination is rubbish and I've no aptitude for it. So that was that.

The second thought was that she was worried for Draco. I might not care for the boy he was in school, but in the years since he would have changed, wouldn't he? Her Gryffindor tendency was to think the best of people, and the world HAD been becoming a better place. Yet, even if he was an evil bastard, nobody deserved treatment like that, her heart panged.

Hermione's bladder made itself known, and she grudgingly went to relieve herself. After, she stared at herself in the mirror. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink with the size of the bags under her eyes! A glance at her watch told her it was 7:38 in the morning.

She washed her face and brushed her teeth, knowing that she would never be able to get back to sleep at this rate. She walked through her tiny studio apartment, admiring her little flat. It was comfortable but nothing special.

While she made her morning coffee, Hermione decided it would be best to check on Harry and Ginny, see how the couple was getting on with the incumbent arrival of their first child, and how the nursery was coming along. Typical Harry had procrastinated, and now Ginny was due any moment and he decided he needed to paint the room again! Hermione snorted in an unladylike fashion and added her creamer. She would pop in to check on the two, as the thicker Ginny's midsection became, the thinner her patience got.

Drinking her scalding hot coffee, she decided to Floo on over, and perhaps tell Ginny about her strange dreams. Harry would probably just shrug her off, his hate for Malfoy having never abated. Hermione's hadn't until she had really started imagining him injured, and now she was afraid for him.

Ginny was on leave from her position with the Holyhead Harpies, having been banned from flying the moment they found out about her condition. She had spent much of her pregnancy bothering all her friends.

It was Saturday morning and Harry wouldn't be at the ministry today. Harry never took being left out of the loop well, and it took about a week for him to approach Minister Shacklebolt about a position. He became an advisor for Ron's team, and his intuition had served him well there.

As Hermione stepped from the green flames into the sitting room of Harry and Ginny's cottage, she started hearing sounds of crashing china.

What in Merlin?

Harry was using his wand to cast a Protego while Ginny was throwing Christmas ornaments at him. The shattering sounds that Hermione had heard were the ornaments (many of them apparently very old) either hitting the shield charm or bouncing off and breaking other things.

"-and if you think that color green looks good then you have another thing coming. It looks like smashed pea soup! Oh, and how dare you eat the last pastry! I was saving that! This baby NEEDS PASTRIES -"

Neither of the cottage's inhabitants noticed Hermione, so she cleared her throat. Ginny continued to yell, now throwing candles at Harry while he tried to verbally and physical defend himself. He wasn't getting anywhere. Hermione giggled at the ludicrous situation.

When Ginny began yelling about how she still hadn't had any of the pudding that Harry had apparently finished at her parents' house last week, Hermione couldn't hold her laughs in anymore, and began to snigger loudly.

That got Harry's attention, and in his surprise his concentration – and therefore his shield – lapsed just as Ginny launched a candlestick at his head.

"Hi Hermione!" Harry cried quickly, before Ginny could begin berating him again. The candlestick whacked him in the ear.

"Don't you know not to eat the last of anything when you live with a pregnant witch?" Hermione scolded playfully.

Harry rolled his eyes but winked at her in a silent thank you for the save.

Ginny waddled over and the three of them sat down for some morning tea.  
When everything had calmed down, Hermione asked Ginny how she was feeling. Ginny merely stuck a foot out as far as her extended stomach would allow. The foot was swollen to the size of a grapefruit.

"Ginny!" Hermione began to launch into one of her well-known lectures about how badly the girl needed to see a healer.

Harry then brought the tea tray in, cutting Hermione off.

"She has a ten thirty appointment with Healer Rey."

"You ruin all my fun, Harry James Potter! But Hermione, did you really think I would take any chances with baby Muriel Luna Potter?"

"You mean James Frederic Potter?" Harry seemed resigned, the argument an old one.

"So, you guy still don't know what you're having?" Hermione cut in before the argument started again. It seemed pregnancy really shortened the red-headed girl's already intense temper.

"Nope! It's going to be a wonderful surprise." Harry said as he looked at his wife and his face lit up with the love her felt for her. They're really a match made in Heaven, thought Hermione with a pang of jealousy.

Not that she hadn't had her share of little flirtations and romances, but they were nothing compared to the love she'd seen in Harry's face. She would kill to have half the love her two friends had for one another.

"I hope you'll excuse me; I think I need to go charm some walls sunflower yellow." Harry wasn't very subtle, but Hermione appreciated the offer for girl time.

"It's CANARY yellow, husband!"

As the conversation continued without Harry, Hermione struggled to broach the subject of her dream. While Ginny waxed eloquent about canary yellow for the nursery, she finally cut her off.

"I've been dreaming about Draco Malfoy."

Ginny spat out the tea she had just sipped.

"Oh, this is juicy! Are you dreaming about the size of his—"

"GINNY! I would never..."

"Oh please, you have just as many urges as the rest of us. And I know you heard the same rumors at school as I did. But seriously, tell me about the dreams. I'm listening. All anybody wants to talk about around me is the baby and I'd really just like to hear about some other gossip for a bit." Ginny was as blunt as ever.

And so, Hermione told her dearest friend all about her dreams, well nightmares, really.

Once the two girls had graduated Hogwarts and begun to spend more time together, they had really developed a close friendship. Ginny and Hermione complemented one another and were able to bond over many war experiences.

"What are you going to do about it?" Asked Ginny when Hermione had finished.

"I have NO idea." Hermione said, throwing her head back in exasperation. "What am I supposed to do, just show up at Malfoy Manor – the place of my nightmares – and say 'hey, how are things? By the way, I've been dreaming about you and are you okay?" She then let her head fall forward into her hands. "And I'm just so tired! I'm been having these dreams multiple times a night, and they're never the same. I don't even know what to expect from them, and I'm not sleeping because of it."

Ginny looked at her friend with sympathy.

"Have you tried snooping around a little? Getting some answers?" She smirked.

Hermione looked up at her friend, astonished.

"You are a genius!"  
Why hadn't Hermione thought of it?

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It'll be a couple of days until the next update. Until then, I'd love to hear from you!


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